Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?

Obviously, the big gun this week is the long-awaited ‘Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures‘ box set (which is technically not very complete without ‘The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles’). This should check off one of the most significant “holy grails” from a lot of people’s Blu-ray wish lists. Yes, it stings a little that the only way to get the first three movies is bundled with the much-less-beloved fourth. Not only is ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ disliked by many fans, most of them already own the existing Blu-ray of that one and don’t appreciate being forced to buy another copy. I think that this is a pretty crappy move on Lucasfilm’s part, but ultimately, I don’t expect that it will deter too many sales. I know that I still plan to pick it up.

In fact, I was at a Costco this weekend that had several copies out on the floor early. I excitedly tried to purchase one, but sadly the store wouldn’t let me buy it.

New Releases

The first time I heard the title for ‘Katy Perry: Part of Me‘, my immediate reaction was: “Which part, and where’s the rest of her?” Too bad this couldn’t be a horror movie in which the annoying pop singer gets dismembered limb from limb. I’d pay to see that. Me and Russell Brand…

For an actual horror movie, check out Joss Whedon’s clever deconstruction of the “dead teenager” genre in ‘The Cabin in the Woods‘. This is a very fun movie, though I personally found the ending kind of lame. I still plan to buy it on Blu-ray, regardless.

In reviewing the Blu-ray for ‘Chico & Rita‘, Aaron was very charmed by this Oscar-nominee for Best Animated Feature. It’s not too often that we see an animated film genuinely made for adults. This sounds quite interesting.

I have limited knowledge of the rest of the week’s day-and-date titles, most of which are only of middling interest to me. You may feel differently.

Dame Judi Dench and Tom Wilkinson headline the latest feel-good British import, ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel‘. They play a couple of retirees who travel to India and have some eccentric, charming adventures. Basically, it sounds like ‘Eat Pray Love’ for the blue-haired set. Meh.

Maggie Gyllenhaal helps invent the vibrator in the period comedy ‘Hysteria‘, which received generally middling word-of-mouth on the film festival circuit last year before vanishing in general release.

After this spring’s mediocre ‘Jeff, Who Lives at Home’, the Duplass brothers quickly cranked out another indie comedy with ‘The Do-Deca-Pentathalon‘. That’s on top of the other thirty or so movies that Mark has starred in this year (perhaps a slight exaggeration). This one’s about a pair of brothers who invent their own personal Olympics for some reason. The buzz on this was… practically nonexistent, frankly.

How is it that director Jay Chandrasekhar manages to do fairly decent work on television (he’s helmed numerous episodes of ‘Chuck’, ‘Pysch’ and ‘Community’, among other shows), yet makes such crappy movies time and again? His latest alleged comedy, ‘The Babymakers‘, has been savaged by everyone who’s seen it. Aaron called it, “a sorry excuse for a movie that shouldn’t be viewed by anyone, ever.” Save for his genuinely funny debut, ‘Super Troopers’, that sounds like all of Chandrasekhar’s other movies.

Catalog Titles

If you have any money left after the Indy box set, you might want to spend some of it on ‘Ed Wood‘, which is one of the few Tim Burton movies that’s liked even by people who otherwise hate Tim Burton. (Funnily, I find it a little overrated.)

The Criterion Collection brings us a pair of French classics from director Marcel Carné – his masterpiece ‘Children of Paradise‘ (often regarded as the best French film ever made) and the more obscure ‘Les visiteurs du suoir‘ (a.k.a. ‘The Devil’s Envoys’). If those don’t float your boat, Criterion also has David Fincher’s ‘The Game‘ on tap. While this might be one of Fincher’s weakest movies, it nonetheless holds some interest.

Meanwhile, Olive Films delivers some more classics, including Orson Welles’ adaptation of ‘Macbeth‘ and the 1950 film version of ‘Cyrano de Bergerac‘ starring José Ferrer.

Of much less esteem is the 1995 Sylvester Stallone cheesefest ‘Judge Dredd‘, which Disney offers up as a tie-in with the new reboot movie due in theaters on Friday.

Fox finally releases the remastered Blu-rays of ‘The French Connection‘ and ‘Wall Street‘ from Best Buy exclusivity today, and also adds Danny DeVito’s hilarious black comedy ‘The War of the Roses‘ and underrated bio-pic ‘Hoffa‘ to the “Filmmakers Signature Series.”

It’s not even October yet, but several studios have already started rolling out the horror movies. Warner has ‘The Devil’s Advocate‘ and ‘Queen of the Damned‘, while Scream Factory churns out a couple of the ‘Halloween‘ sequels, Full Moon drops the ‘Puppet Master‘ series, and Redemption goes for Euro horror with a trio of Mario Bava titles: ‘Black Sunday‘, ‘Hatchet for the Honeymoon‘ and ‘Lisa and the Devil‘.

Television

As if all of the above weren’t enough to keep you occupied, TV fans might want to pick up the second season of ‘Hawaii Five-0‘, the third season of ‘Modern Family‘ or the seventh season of ‘Supernatural‘.

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This could be a tough, expensive week for me. The ‘Indiana Jones’ collection is a must-own, and I’ll probably also grab ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ now. Other titles that I really want but will likely have to put on my wish list for later purchase are: ‘Ed Wood’, ‘Children of Paradise’, ‘The Game’, ‘Macbeth’, ‘The War of the Roses’ and ‘Hoffa’. That’s just too much for me to buy all at once.

About Josh Zyber

Josh Zyber is a veteran movie and video disc reviewer from Laserdisc to DVD and beyond. He's previously written for DVDFile.com, DVDTalk.com and Home Theater magazine. These days, he wastes most of his free time managing this blog and writing the occasional Blu-ray review for High-Def Digest.

10 comments

Shayne Blakeley

Already picked up Cabin, Indy I’m gonna wait a little and hope for a price drop. Beyond that I’m also interested in Ed Wood, Halloween 2 and 3, Puppetmaster 2 and 3 and the Bava titles (Black Sunday in particular)

Barsoom Bob

You will be happy with Black Sunday’s transfer. It looks pretty darn crisp with good B&W contrast. I always had a liking for this movie since I first saw it. It is a pretty good, old school, vampire film, minus Dracula himself, that is atmospheric and played straight. Not full on Bava yet, more like a good Hammer vampire movie only in B&W.

William Henley

Completely agree. I mean, its not priced at a bad price for all four movies, but I already own Crystal Skull, and could really care less about Temple. So waiting for single releases, or for teh price of the set to drop to $40 or below

LM

Chaz

Got my Cabin, Halloween II and III releases yesterday, Indiana Jones will have to wait though, not paying that much since I already own Crystal Skull, which makes the set cost about $22 per movie from most places and that isnt a good price IMO.

Its definitely a must own but I can wait for a price drop or a used copy down the line

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